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By: Jill Saftel, News Correspondent
The women’s soccer team defeated Lafayette 3-0 at Parsons Field Sunday, redeeming itself after a loss to Dartmouth in the Nike Invitational Sept. 5.
Despite having four shots on goal in the first half, the Huskies didn’t score on Lafayette goalkeeper, sophomore Lauren Smedley, throughout the first half.
Coach Tracey Leone said she was happy with the way her team played in the first half.
“It wasn’t that our team was necessarily making any mistakes, but that their keeper [Smedley] was playing really well,” Leone said. “She’s a great goalkeeper, so you have to score great goals.”
It was not until the first two minutes of the second half that sophomore forward Greta Samuelsdottir was able to fire two goals past Smedley.
Samuelsdottir’s first goal came at the 47th minute, when senior co-captain and defender Leslie Condie sent her the ball. Her second goal came just one minute and 41 seconds after the first, and was assisted by junior defender Kelly Matthews.
Junior forward Veronica Napoli added to the Huskies’ advantage with another goal in the 57th minute.
According to Leone, a system change that included an additional offensive player was partially to thank for the offensive jolt that took place early in the second half.
“We just wanted to have one more player higher, a more penetrative player,” Leone said. “For the most part the team was playing great in both systems and in the very beginning of the second half Greta was able to get her goals pretty early. They just had to be patient, stick with it and keep doing what they were doing.”
Samuelsdottir and Napoli said they agreed that positivity was the main contributing factor to their win.
“We had a lot of chances in the first half but it didn’t quite click going into the goal,” Samuelsdottir said. “We kept on being positive, kept going and working hard. In the end, it’s always going to click.”
The Huskies also had a 15-4 shots on goal advantage on Lafayette, and out-shot their opponents 24-6.
With just over three minutes left in the second half, sophomore goalkeeper Michelle Sopko kept the game a shutout, saving a free kick by the Leopards.
Sopko, the only Northeastern player to remain in the game for its entire 90 minutes, has gotten the last five starts. She stopped four shots against Lafayette and gained her third shutout in five games.
Leone said Sopko, along with her fellow goalkeepers senior Sarah Fylak and sophomore Megan Penn, have really stepped it up.
“All three of our keepers have been awesome,” Leone said. “They’re really exemplary players on our team, the way they push each other, all three are committed and focused.”
The chemistry between the three goalkeepers fun to watch, Leone said.
“It’s like all three are in the goal at once when one of them is playing. It’s really a pretty neat thing to see,” Leone said.
With a week off from competition between its loss at Dartmouth and the home game against Lafayette, Leone said the team was able to get in some good practices.
“We could work on things, not only in preparation for Lafayette, but just to become a better team,” Leone said. “When you have so many games you’re always preparing for the next game, especially when they’re really close together. We were able to just work as a team to improve without having to worry about many opponents since we just had one game and we could zero in on Lafayette.”
The time allowed the team to improve their fitness and heal some lingering injuries, she said.
Leone said they have been using their practices to refine and tighten things up as a team in preparation for their next game.
“We’ve been experimenting with some different systems and seeing what’s going to fit us best,” Leone said. “This team is really flexible and to be able to play a variety of systems in a variety of ways is always a strength, especially early in the season. We’re still fine tuning.”
The Huskies will face the University of New Hampshire at Parsons Field tomorrow at 6 p.m.
